MaximusRex Posted June 4, 2012 Share Posted June 4, 2012 WoW always had free trials, but 7 day trials have been going away for unlimited free trials to a low level cap for quite some time in the industry. Why would TOR want to offer trials that are inferior to their competitors? There is obviously marketing data that shows that these kinds of trials transit into subs or no one would offer them. WoW is the only Western MMO that has multi-million subs, so comparing subs to WoW is stupid from a business perspective. Its like saying In & Out Burgers is a failure because there are more McDonald's in the world. TOR would be profitable at half a million subs, it's at 1.3 million, making it one of the most played Western MMOs currently. Rift at an estimated 600,000 is also on the higher end of pay to play Western MMOs. These are healthy and vibrant games and will be successful in the market for a long time to come. That said, if they only way someone personally will consider a game successful is 10 million subs, just go play WoW, because in the next 5-10 years its likely the only game to maintain that many. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stephenjohnp Posted June 4, 2012 Share Posted June 4, 2012 They should have introduced this a month or so after launch since due to the story based gameplay, the initial 15 levels are fairly strong. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stradoo Posted June 4, 2012 Share Posted June 4, 2012 I didn't really know how many experts there were in the world of MMOs and how it should be done. This is exciting stuff. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laris_Rai Posted June 4, 2012 Share Posted June 4, 2012 Considering WoW and Rift do this as well (as far as I am aware), it implies they are doing well. Agreed. It's becoming more and more common for MMOs. Just look at all the free preview weekends. It's a perfectly reasonable business decision. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darth-Malice Posted June 4, 2012 Share Posted June 4, 2012 How do I feel? It's a desperation tactic to try to get numbers up. The free weekends obviously were not working since nobody was recommending the game. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mallorik Posted June 4, 2012 Share Posted June 4, 2012 How do you feel about this? Personally, I'm disappointed that the game hasn't been doing that well to the point where they have to do more free trials, but hopefully this will bring in more fans. This is becoming the new norm for mmos. i would be more worried if they didnt have free trials, wouldnt that say "we dont want anyone to try this game before they buy it because it sucks"? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Degarmo Posted June 4, 2012 Share Posted June 4, 2012 SOP for MMOs nowadays. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sarfux Posted June 4, 2012 Share Posted June 4, 2012 Let me tell you just this: I FREAKING TOLD YOU! dude...settle down. The game isn't free to play. Just up to a certain level. But I know..you want the feeling in your head of "i told you so" guess you got it. To a point. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cheesy_Blasters Posted June 4, 2012 Share Posted June 4, 2012 This is the new marketing strategy for game previews/free trials. Other MMOs have embraced this approach, versus conventional "limited-time" free trial promotions, so I'm not really surprised that SWTOR is following suit. I think it's a good move. With other MMOs, I've know plenty of folks who at some point or another got a free weekend or 7-day trial for a game but, for some reason or another, weren't able to take full advantage of the opportunity during that specific window of time. BW knows that it sucks when you were hoping to be able to play for a whole weekend, but then something comes up and you ended up only playing or 6 hours over the 4 days instead They wisely choose level 15, which means prospective subscribers can take all the time they want or need to: explore their starting world, select an AC, try out a flashpoint or warzone, pick up a companion, get their ship. It will give these folks a nice taste of the game at their own pace. It allows folks to enjoy the game without making them feel that if they don't spend the entire "free weekend" playing, that they're somehow missing out on what they could have experienced. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kopf Posted June 4, 2012 Share Posted June 4, 2012 I don't like where this is headed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sambeta Posted June 5, 2012 Share Posted June 5, 2012 WoW has the same thing. So does Diablo 3 and Rift. Not a big deal and it's pretty much expected with MMOs now. WoW didn't do the same thing within the first 6-8 months of the game though? And D3 is B2P. There is no sub fee. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thomasgallant Posted June 5, 2012 Share Posted June 5, 2012 WoW didn't do the same thing within the first 6-8 months of the game though? And D3 is B2P. There is no sub fee. the level 15 f2p is quickly becoming the average in gaming.. is it a bad thing.? i dont know.. but it would not surprise me to see games like elderscrolls online coming at launch with a trial level max .. it seems to be the way the industry is headed.. and since i am someone who wants to breaki nto the industry it is something i am watching increasingly more carefully... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sambeta Posted June 5, 2012 Share Posted June 5, 2012 (edited) the level 15 f2p is quickly becoming the average in gaming.. is it a bad thing.? i dont know.. but it would not surprise me to see games like elderscrolls online coming at launch with a trial level max .. it seems to be the way the industry is headed.. and since i am someone who wants to breaki nto the industry it is something i am watching increasingly more carefully... It may seem that way but if this is so why wasn't it released with the F2P up to 15 option? Seems like a rather sudden announcement to try and get a larger player base. We don't know what the sub count is as of this moment, perhaps this was the reason for the announcement? Just to elaborate the difference between this comparison of D3 and TOR: With D3, you buy the game for £49.99 and play. There is no on going sub fee. There will be paid expansions later on obviously. With TOR, you buy the game for £44.99 (if you haven't got your trial) then you have an ongoing sub fee that ranges between £10 a month or your longer term sub fees etc. Add on to this any major expansion packs. Edited June 5, 2012 by sambeta Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jandi Posted June 5, 2012 Share Posted June 5, 2012 It may seem that way but if this is so why wasn't it released with the F2P up to 15 option? Seems like a rather sudden announcement to try and get a larger player base. We don't know what the sub count is as of this moment, perhaps this was the reason for the announcement? Yeah, how dare they try to get more people to play their game. Such a bad company. Everyone knows the subs are down and once the free month is up, they will plummet. They know it, we know it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lordgeneral Posted June 5, 2012 Share Posted June 5, 2012 Yay! Now all the idiots can stand around on the starter planets showing off their endgame gear hoping that the F2P newbs bow to their feet & worship the ground they walk on, alright! That's exactly what BioWare wanted, right? You have to be incredibly sad to do that. Not that people don't do it. In warhammer online when the new Black Guard tank class was introduced, someone sweaty fat geek, was already level 50 with almost the highest end gear in the game on showing off to us all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TKMaster Posted June 5, 2012 Share Posted June 5, 2012 Wow did it after 5 years and multiple expansions that made giving away the early content easy. Rift? You really want to tag SWTOR with Rift? Rift crashed and burned to a few servers in less than 10 months. Well, I guess that would actually make Rift and SWTOR similar. Going to free after 6 months for scrub MMOs is expected, not the Star Wars IP and not Bioware/EA's baby. Disastrous they have to do this so soon. You must be new to the genre...welcome. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sambeta Posted June 5, 2012 Share Posted June 5, 2012 (edited) Yeah, how dare they try to get more people to play their game. Such a bad company. Everyone knows the subs are down and once the free month is up, they will plummet. They know it, we know it. Sarcasm noted, but you've missed my point. If it was the industry standard all MMOs would be released with the F2P up to a certain level limit. People use the bad press as an excuse for the reason this game isn't selling or isn't getting subs. Most of the reviews I've seen of this game by "professionals" have been positive. The only reason people aren't signing up in droves for this game is that there is a greater range of MMOs out in this current period. I don't know many people who want to pay for more than one sub per month when it comes to MMOs. They chose one over the other. Edited June 5, 2012 by sambeta Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maxkardinal Posted June 5, 2012 Share Posted June 5, 2012 (edited) If someone could explain whats wrong in allouding a person to taste the game before paying for a month, i would be greatful. All, who were waiting this game already tried it out. How elce they should lure people who dont give a **** about Star Wars theme to try this game? And again - whats wrong with it? Edited June 5, 2012 by Maxkardinal Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thomasgallant Posted June 5, 2012 Share Posted June 5, 2012 (edited) If someone could explain whats wrong in allouding a person to taste the game before paying for a month, i would be greatful. according to doom and gloomers it spells the end of a video game compeltely and totally..never mind the fact that wow has a free to certain level in it now, and those same people who said tor is dying because they are offering this service now ( which i like btw) are the same people who say that tor needs to be more like wow.. Edited June 5, 2012 by thomasgallant Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cuaarl_Hosmi Posted June 5, 2012 Share Posted June 5, 2012 Smart move, I would say this is the industry standard nowadays. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
overunitee Posted June 5, 2012 Share Posted June 5, 2012 Personally I feel very bad , I Paid for the game in January and have played the live pay to play beta since then,I have moved servers and started from scratch 3 times ,I have bought new hardware to make it play better ,I have reported issues and must have sent in over 40 copies of Dxdiags, msinfo, crashlogs ,spent countless hours/days, weeks.trying to get to the root cause of my performance issues ,even researching how my internet works to try to trouble shoot the disconnection issues ,with no real help from the customer services . Today my computer which has had its details sent to bioware to confirm it should have no issue playing the game does evertime I enter fleet drop from 70fps down to 10/20fps with the character limit renderer set to low .One person from a guild i was part of said he had a i7 processor running at 5mhz and still had significant frame rate drops on fleet . I truly cannot understand why they would invite free to play players to try the game before at least fixing the performance of the main hub at fleet . To me free to play means very young children with no money of thier own ,anyone capable of using a keyboard and mouse entering and the community becoming the playground mentality of WOW thats for those that have learned to read and type ,the rest just play as if the in game avatars are computer generated Now all the people that didnt want to play the game can get it for free and play the warzones for free which is really the only element of the game which would warrant a monthly subscription. you cannot get a group for any group content in the game apart from warzones ,so a pimped out lvl15 in PVP would be a perfect solution if you want to fight your friends for free . it will be like lvl 19,twink in wow with xp turned off only free . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thomasgallant Posted June 5, 2012 Share Posted June 5, 2012 Personally I feel very bad , I Paid for the game in January and have played the live pay to play beta since then,I have moved servers and started from scratch 3 times ,I have bought new hardware to make it play better ,I have reported issues and must have sent in over 40 copies of Dxdiags, msinfo, crashlogs ,spent countless hours/days, weeks.trying to get to the root cause of my performance issues ,even researching how my internet works to try to trouble shoot the disconnection issues ,with no real help from the customer services . Today my computer which has had its details sent to bioware to confirm it should have no issue playing the game does evertime I enter fleet drop from 70fps down to 10/20fps with the character limit renderer set to low .One person from a guild i was part of said he had a i7 processor running at 5mhz and still had significant frame rate drops on fleet . I truly cannot understand why they would invite free to play players to try the game before at least fixing the performance of the main hub at fleet . To me free to play means very young children with no money of thier own ,anyone capable of using a keyboard and mouse entering and the community becoming the playground mentality of WOW thats for those that have learned to read and type ,the rest just play as if the in game avatars are computer generated Now all the people that didnt want to play the game can get it for free and play the warzones for free which is really the only element of the game which would warrant a monthly subscription. you cannot get a group for any group content in the game apart from warzones ,so a pimped out lvl15 in PVP would be a perfect solution if you want to fight your friends for free . it will be like lvl 19,twink in wow with xp turned off only free . how very elitist of you.. you have a good computer so obviously you have some sort of disposable income.. which is good... but you hid your veiled distain for poorer people not very well. they are not opening the game up to level 15 for free to bring in poor people.. they are doing it in hopes of people on the fence who have disposable income to spend ( like you ) whio havent tried the game to try it, and stay,, pay a sub.. this isnt about letting people play for free..its a drug dealer giving them a hit of crack for free..if they like it they will be back. really though your whole post smacks of someone who is mad someone is getting a bit .. a small bit of the game for free...careful now though..your true colours are showing.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crash-X Posted June 5, 2012 Share Posted June 5, 2012 If someone could explain whats wrong in allouding a person to taste the game before paying for a month, i would be greatful. All, who were waiting this game already tried it out. How elce they should lure people who dont give a **** about Star Wars theme to try this game? And again - whats wrong with it? Nothing wrong with it. Nothing at all. This is the usual around here. No matter the news there will be a group that complains about it or imply that the decision that was made by Bioware/EA means the game is failing. A free trial is not indicative of the game failing. It means Bioware wants to get the game into more hands. It sold what over 2 million copies on launch day? Well what about the people that were hesitant of playing, of trying it out for whatever reason? There are tons of people like this, especially with PC games when people are not sure if their computer will run the game so they'll hold off on buying it. Free trial is about getting those people to try the game out, that's it. D3 is doing it in record time. The game hasn't failed, but they want to throw more bait out there. Nothing wrong with it at all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Celise Posted June 5, 2012 Share Posted June 5, 2012 (edited) i think the game should be limited to a new class for free players alone on a new planet say something like yavin 4 or kuat depending on the side chosen, it has its only one storyline each and you can not progress beyond level 10, limited to free chat channel and its hidden from subbers and free players are hidden from the subbers. if bioware do create another one of these weekend passes, and a free player wanted to try out the sub game for a day or two, they can use the shuttle to goto the fleet station on a level below and their chat settings unlocked, choose their class and reset to level 1, then sent on their way on one of two shuttles to their starter worlds, but they can ask on the station for tips though which can be extremly helpful especially at peak times when there are lots of players about. Edited June 5, 2012 by Celise Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zuile Posted June 5, 2012 Share Posted June 5, 2012 (edited) It can only help and f2p to level15 is no signal of impending doom, if it weren't for the server issues it would cause they should have done this even sooner after release imo. Personally I feel very bad , One person from a guild i was part of said he had a i7 processor running at 5mhz and still had significant frame rate drops on fleet . . I'm surprised he even got windows going let alone the game Edited June 5, 2012 by zuile Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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